A blog on the current crises in the Middle East and news accounts unpublished by the US press. Daily timeline of events in Iraq as collected from stories and dispatches in the French and Italian media: Le Monde (Paris), Il Corriere della Sera (Milan), La Repubblica (Rome), L'Orient-Le Jour (Beirut) and occasionally from El Mundo (Madrid).

Friday, September 16, 2005

16 September 2005 Events in Iraq and in the Region

Baghdad. In slightly more than a month, Saddam Hussein and several other figures of the former regime will be put on trial for the 1982 massacre of 150 villagers in Dujail. Meanwhile a number of difficulties lie in the way, most notably a challenge to the legitimacy of the Iraqi Special Tribunal, an argument for a change in venu to The Hague and the refusal on the part of President Talabani to sign any decree implementing the death penalty.

Touz Khourmatou. Eleven people were killed and 24 wounded in a suicide carbombing of the al-Rasul al-Adam Mosque.

Ramadi. US Marine killed in action.

Karabila. Nine rebels killed in US airstrikes.

Baghdad. Two civilians were killed and 13 wounded when five carloads of gunmen opened fire on a crowd of unemployed men seeking day work in the Jadida Quarter.

Baghdad. President Jalal al-Talabani makes a "desperate plea" for help from the international community to prevent an inter-confessional war.

Baghdad. A Ministry of Transport vehicle was attacked in Baghdad's Canal street, killing two occupants and wounding two other.

Baghdad. Sheikh Fadl Alami, imam of the Imam Ali Mosque in Sadr City, was killed in a drive-by shooting.

Baghdad. A US military convoy was struck by a roadside bomb in the al-Adel quarter. Two US soldiers were wounded.

Hasswa. A suicide carbomb struck a police convoy, killing three police and wounding six others.

Iskandariya. Local government official Amar al-Khafaji was assassinated in his home along with four bodyguards by men in stolen military uniforms.

Baghdad. Last-minute amendments made to draft Constitutition. However, the document will not be submitted to a vote by Iraqi Parliament.

Ramallah. Palestinians accused Ariel Sharon of exploiting the Israeli evacution of the Gaza Strip at the United Nations summit without advancing the cause of peace. Meanwhile, the Road Map remains a "dead letter."

Neve Dekalim. Thousands of Hamas militants demonstrated brandishing automatic rifles and RPGs in Neve Dekalim, the former "capital" of the Gaza Strip. Several members of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood were in attendance.

Rafah. The border crossing into Egypt continued to be a scene of chaos as hundreds breached the frontier barriers.

Jerusalem. Israeli Defense Minister Shaoul Mofaz ordered reinforced controls at the border crosings of Erez and Karni, the main transit point for goods entering the Gaza Strip. Meantime Shimon Peres told Bill Clinton in New York that border issues must be settled or the existence of the Gaza Strip is threatened. [Duh].

Bilin (West Bank). Four Israeli soldiers were injured by stone-throwing crowds [Aw, poor widdle stormtroopers]. Five Palestinians were injured by rubber bullets and six others were arrested.

Berlin. Israeli Finance Minister Ehud Olmert (talking out of his ass) suggested to the German weekly Der Spiegel that Israel may abandon a part of its West Bank colonies.

Beirut. The UN peacekeeping force FINUL is attempting to negotiate the release of two Lebanese shepherds, Riad Moustapha and Hussein Kassem Zahra, kidnapped yesterday by an Israeli patrol in the Shebaa Farms sector between Lebanon and Israel. Israel accused the shepherds of spying on Israeli military installations for Hezbollah.

Washington. The USA has not yet reached a decision on whether to reduce its military presence in Afghanstan.

London. Former Israeli Chief of Staff Gen. Moshe Yaalon has abandoned plans to visit London where he risks being charged with war crimes. Yaalon was to attend a fundraiser for Israeli veterans.

Jerusalem. Two Israeli grand rabbis have demanded that Pope Benedict XVI condemn the destruction of abandoned synagogues in the Gaza Strip. Yona Metzger and Shlomo Amar were received by the Pope in Castelgandolfo.